Doeg the Edomite

22:22 Doeg the Edomite. When Saul’s men refused to carry out his unwarranted command to slay all the LORD’s priests in Nob, an Edomite unbeliever, caring nothing about the true religion centered in Israel, volunteered to carry out this wicked deed. Not only the priests, but the whole population of the town was executed by this man Doeg. He could hardly have done all this single-handedly, and the account does not say what forces he was able to recruit. He had, for some unknown reason, been “set over the servants of Saul” (I Samuel 22:9) and even though most of these servants would not comply in this act (I Samuel 22:17), there were apparently enough who would (perhaps he even had Edomites or other pagans who hated David and David’s God in his entourage). Psalm 52 (superscript) was written by David about Doeg’s treachery.